


Hearts of Ink

by rubyisms



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - Tattoos, M/M, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 03:21:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8312074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubyisms/pseuds/rubyisms
Summary: In a world where you have tattoos left behind after someone impacts you in a positive or negative way, most people allow their life's story to be told by the symbolic ink left behind on their flesh. Some had very short stories to tell, while others could go on for hours about their own stories.
And when it came to the latter, Qrow Branwen was no exception.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So about halfway through there's a section that has a physically abusive relationship so fair warning going into this.
> 
> Basically this is just an au where you get a tattoo on your skin when you meet someone who changes your life. Sometimes events can apply as well, but it very rarely happens.

Before his eyes are open, before he starts to cry and let the doctors know he is a healthy baby boy, there is ink materializing on his flesh. It is located on his right shoulder, a raven with it’s wings spread, a space between the avian’s appendages. After he is cleaned off and weighed, he is handed over to his mother. There is a smile on her face and her eyes crinkle as ruby eyes finally open to stare up at the woman who gave birth to him, and the twin sister who was quicker than he was.

Qrow Branwen has only been born today, yet his first tattoo is for his twin sister. Forever, her impression is imprinted on his skin in a permanent reminder of how much she means to him. Raven was the first, but she would not be the last.

Qrow manages to survive childhood as a faunus shifter, managing to avoid the torment from the racist kids in the neighborhood by never shifting when they were present. To the world, he was just an ordinary kid, and the crow he shifted into was just a normal crow. The faunus is deep in thought on the way to Beacon, snapping out of his thoughts as eyes that are red and as bright as his quickly appear in his face.

“Snap out of it, baby brother.” Raven grins, and he lets out a soft huff at the use of her ‘pet name.’ As she steps back, he gets a good look at the tattoo of a black feather on her right wrist. Much like her twin, it’s been there from the day she was born. Qrow realizes the irony; if they hadn’t lived in a world where people got tattoos on their skin whenever they met someone who left a negative or positive impact on their life, most people would assume the ink that currently painted their skin and always had since birth would be birthmarks.

“We’re the same age, Rae.” He points out and she’s waving her hand at him as he stands. Technically, she was older than him by ten minutes, but no one really cared about the technicalities. Unless, of course, you were the younger twin.

“Yeah, well at least I’m not a beanpole.” Raven murmurs in response and that tugs a laugh from Qrow’s lips as he reaches over to wrap an arm around her shoulders. Instinctively, hers slides around his waist and they stare out the window, watching as Beacon, their new home, slowly comes into view. “You nervous, baby brother?”

His eyes twinkle as he tilts his head to meet hers. A grin is crooked on his face and he lifts his hand from her shoulder to muss her hair, much to her dismay if the face she pulls is anything to go by. “Not at all.”

Qrow doesn’t know what his sister is thinking as the airship grows closer to the academy. Whether or not if she’s thinking positive thoughts, negative, or neutral. Despite often knowing what was on her mind or finishing her sentences, the ‘twin telepathy’ they shared and often were teased about having was closed off to him. Still, he smiles and turns towards the window once more.

It was a chance to start over.

* * *

 

There’s a new one. Qrow can feel it as it imprints into his flesh as he approaches the girl on the ground of the courtyard. He notes how she’s even shorter than Raven and it makes his lips quirk upwards into a smile, offering a hand down to her as she sits on the ground with a dazed expression on her face.

“That was certainly explosive.” He teases, having witnessed the incident where she had been messing with the student’s weapons. Unfortunately for her, she chose Raven’s dust blade which he had begged her not to load before leaving for the school. Apparently, she hadn’t listened and Qrow makes a mental note to talk to his twin later.

“You saw that?” Her voice is sheepish and she looks like she’s a second away from hiding in her cloak and he chuckles, lifting her off the ground as she takes his offered hand.

“Oh, yeah. I saw.” His gaze turns towards Raven’s dust blade once more, before it turns onto his own next to hers, before turning back to the girl once more. “So, my sister’s dust blade is cool and all, but do you want to see something really cool?” That does the trick and immediately she brightens up as if her accident never happened.

“Yes, of course!” And with her response, he’s reaching for his weapon, allowing it to go from the resting state to the default longsword. Her silver eyes are twinkling for a moment then she quickly gains a confused expression at seeing the longsword. “That’s it?”

Qrow chuckles and activates the mechanism that releases what his weapon’s true form was, listening as the gears click and clack together and the blade curves upwards. In an distant, the handle is no longer short, but instead longer and the curved blade rests on one end, above his head. “So what do you think?” he asks with the scythe now revealed. “Pretty cool, right?”

“So cool.” She agrees, her eyes bright and shining again. “I’m Summer, by the way.”

“Qrow.”   
  
Later, in the ballroom as the students settle down for the night and get ready for the initiation tomorrow, he takes a moment to look at the tattoo that had appeared on his body in a tingling sensation. It’s a white rose, being cradled by the raven’s right wing on his shoulder, the rose and the raven leaving enough space for one more small tattoo. A smile is evident on Qrow’s face as he stares at the second tattoo. Another person in his life who left a lasting impression on him.

He was excited to meet the next.

* * *

The next person he meets happens to be sooner, rather than later. The next day, after being launched into the forest, he’s careful to use his faunus ability to his advantage, soaring across the sky before landing safely on the ground. The headmaster’s words about who his partner would be rings in his head and he prays he finds Raven or even the girl, Summer, from yesterday first.

Unfortunately, fate had different plans in mind for Qrow, as a few moments after he landed and shifted back, he manages to make eye contact with not red, not silver, but blue eyes. There’s an awkward pause and Qrow can feel a burning sensation in his flesh where a new tattoo is quickly making it’s way into his flesh.

“.. Qrow.” He’s quick to introduce himself to the blond, who gives him a grin that he swears could reflect the sun.

“Taiyang.”

He doesn’t get the chance to see the new tattoo until after the team is formed (Summer found Raven. How ironic that his new friend and his twin would end up as partners.), noticing how Taiyang’s tattoo fits perfectly in the spot the remained from Raven’s and Summer’s. It’s taken the shape of a roaring lion, the mane made of fire.Briefly, Qrow wonders if his new teammates also have tattoos for him and Raven, before he pushes the thought aside. Even if they didn’t, he would be fine.

They only left big impacts on him because they were his first friends.

* * *

 

A year later, the Vytal Festival is in full force. Though Qrow has no interest in anymore matches, instead celebrating his team’s victory in a bar. He’s been absentmindedly sipping at the glass in his hand for a while now, trying to get used to the burn. A shuffle nearby grabs his attention, and he’s aware of another body sliding into the seat next to him. The uniform screams Atlas and the face looks familiar. He wonders if he’s seen the student fight today.

“You come here often?” The Atlesian speaks and Qrow blinks for a moment as it takes him a moment to respond when he realizes he’s talking to _ him _ .

“Only on Saturdays and when my team can join.” The faunus shrugs and takes another drink from his glass, and listens as there’s a soft chuckle from the student next to him. Slowly, he lowers his drink, intent on talking to this stranger. His team was still watching matches and hey, the point of the festival was getting to know students from other schools. “So.. Did you fight yet?”

“Yes, have you?” His voice grumbles out and Qrow finds himself falling for the Atlesian’s voice. Oh, he was in too deep already.

“Yeah. We won, and my team’s celebrating by watching more matches.” He chuckles before he offers a friendly hand to the Atlas student. “I’m Qrow.” Hopefully introducing himself would get them somewhere, and judging by the way his offered hand is taken and shaken, he can tell it’s going somewhere.

“James.” James’ voice is low and Qrow swallows hard, his grip tightening on the glass in his hand.

“Can I buy you a drink, James?”

* * *

His head is falling back into the pillows as James’ hands grip his hips harder and tugs him closer. The only sounds in the empty room are Qrow’s moans, James’ pants, and the sound of skin slapping against skin. Through blurry vision, Qrow lifts his hand and settles it on the back of James’ neck, sinking his teeth into his lip as he can feel himself grow closer, closer, and closer-

“James!” Qrow screams out, his back arching upwards. His climax hits him fast and hard, spilling between himself and James, painting their stomachs white. A few moments later, there’s a sharp inhale from the Atlesian and his hips stutter in their pace, nails sinking into flesh. He can’t help but grin as he pants, watching as James’ gorgeous blue eyes shut tightly as he comes, keeping still until he’s managed to come off the blissful high afterwards. 

James is pulling away from Qrow and as he’s moving to sit on the edge of the bed, Qrow can feel a dull throb on his right forearm. Though in the darkness, he doesn’t care much for the throbbing that quickly fades away, instead catching a glimpse of James’ back in the darkness. The pale skin is flawless and he finds himself mesmerized by the way the moonlight makes his skin glow, eyes quickly falling on a black splotch near the base of his spine. The faunus sits up slowly, reaching for a tissue on the nightstand next to his bed to clean himself off. “So.. There a story behind the tattoo?” A personal question Qrow knew. After all, for all he knew it could’ve been a negative impact on James’ life. But the Atlesian chuckles, glancing back at Qrow.

“Only if you tell me about yours.” So he does. Explains how the raven was for his twin, the rose was for his first friend and the lion was for his partner. And he discovers something new about this stranger. He discovers James has a sibling just like him. Only his brother was a newborn and he and Raven were the same age.

“.. The moment I held him in my arms, it appeared.” James confesses quietly. “Before Alec was born- I had nothing. I thought something was broken.” Qrow’s not sure why James is confessing such a deep and close-guarded secret to him, but he figures the sex had broken some walls down.

“You’re not broken, James.” Qrow mumbles, moving to wrap his arms around the taller, broader male and lets out a soft exhale. As he presses his nose into where his spine and back meets, ruby hues go wide for a fraction of a second as he notices the black feather on the back of James’ neck. A crow feather to be exact. It was materializing onto his skin and Qrow was positive James could feel it, yet he didn’t comment on it.

After he says goodbye to James, teasing how if they met in the next rounds he wouldn’t go easy, he gets a good look at his forearm, staring at the new tattoo that beat it’s way onto his skin early.

A heartbeat that looked fairly normal until about halfway through when it takes the shape of a heart. The sight of it brings a smile to Qrow’s face, and the huntsman in training moves to close his dorm door. Four tattoos for four people and all of them had left positive impressions on Qrow.

Maybe he’d get lucky and never meet someone who would leave a negative impact on him.

* * *

He was wrong.

He had been out of Beacon for a month and already he found his life spiraling out of control. He still had his teammates, he still had his partner, but they weren’t there that night when he met the man who stood before him with cold, azure eyes. Once, he loved the color blue. It was the color of Taiyang’s eyes, his best friend, his partner. It was the color of James’ eyes, his first romantic crush and the same person who ended up taking his virginity.

Though the cold eyes that stare at him as he gasps and struggles to breathe through the hand around his throat are not warm like Taiyang’s. There is no friendliness like James’. There is only hatred. Qrow finds his lips parting as he gasps desperately for air, kicking his legs ever so slightly as he’s lifted off his feet. (He curses himself for dating a man much taller and stronger than him.)

“You were with someone else, weren’t you?” Qrow’s shaking his head, lifting his hands to the hand around his throat as he’s slammed against the wall. “You’re a liar- I smell them all over you.”

“T-Taiyang.” Qrow chokes out. “I was with Taiyang, Thorne.” This only seems to infuriate the man further and the hold on his neck tightens and only one thought crosses Qrow’s mind as Thorne sees red.

He can’t breathe. HIs nails are clawing at the hand on his throat, his eyes are closing…

Then he can breathe again as the door slams open. He’s falling to the ground from where he was lifted and there’s an arm wrapping around him to catch him. When his eyes finally open, slowly at first to not make him dizzy, he sees Thorne on the ground, Taiyang on top of the man. Vaguely he’s aware of the harsh words spilling from Taiyang’s lips as his fists pounded against the older man’s face. Through his blurred vision, Qrow can see traces of red on Taiyang’s knuckles and he opens his mouth to speak, before a familiar voice speaks in his ear, cutting him off.

“Come on, baby brother. Let’s get you out of here.” Raven keeps supporting Qrow on her, and slowly he turns his gaze towards his twin sister. The thought processes for a moment, of how they got here just in time before Thorne seriously harmed him.

“Okay.” His voice is soft and hoarse, and Raven’s leading him to the door away from his now ex-boyfriend. He hears Taiyang stand up behind them, his voice snarling as he speaks. But the words go in one ear and out the other as Qrow tries to find his footing.

It’s not until later, when he’s safe with his teammates does he let the tears begin to fall. And it’s not until he feels Raven’s fingers on his left arm that he sees the new tattoo that had taken form at some point during the abuse and assault of that night. A simple one, yet the image of it makes dread and disgust pool in his stomach.

A crow being trapped by vines that are made of thorns, wrapped around it’s wings and neck. The memory is still fresh in his mind and he turns his gaze away from the tattoo, now an ugly scar and reminder of his mistake of trusting the wrong person.

* * *

 

Yang is born, a yellow dragon wraps around the base of the tattoos left behind by his teammates. Raven leaves, the color of the raven becomes duller and feathers are falling off the wings. Ruby is born, red roses dot along the edge of the lion, the white rose, and the dragon. Summer dies, the white rose wilts.

Shortly after Summer dies, the tattoo James left behind burns and he wakes up screaming and clutching at his forearm. Later, there’s a new tattoo on his chest, zeroes and ones in a language he’s only heard of but never bothered to study. Taiyang spirals into depression and he grows closer to his former headmaster. The Mistrali numeral for four appears on his wrist. He grows closer to Glynda by extension, purple bubbles appear behind the numeral. He meets James again, but nothing new appears on his flesh. Later, he finds out James’ secret, promising to take it with him to his grave.

Ruby and Yang grow up, their tattoos become brighter. He meets Raven again one day by pure chance, her tattoo regains color. Taiyang recovers from his depression slowly, and the lion burns once more. He begins a relationship with James now that the two of them are older and the binary on his chest becomes red.

Shortly after Amber’s attack, there’s a maple leaf that is burnt at the edges. Qrow locks himself in his apartment for days as he stares at the tattoos across his body that tells his story. All of them he felt proud of, except for the one left behind by the abusive ex boyfriend and even the one left behind by Amber. He finds himself blaming himself for not being fast enough.

When Qrow expresses this thought to James late one night, there’s a cool metal hand settling on his cheek, while the flesh settles on the binary on his chest. “My Qrow,” he begins to speak and Qrow feels butterflies in his stomach. “You can’t save everyone in the world.”

“Neither can you.” Qrow responds, resting his own hand on the metal that’s caressing his face. Silence falls between them, but it’s not tense and thick as it usually is. The hand on his chest lowers and he watches as James eyes lower to his tattoo there.

“Do you know what that says?” The general begins to speak and Qrow blinks, shaking his head ‘no.’ “It says ‘Only hearts can build a home.’”

It takes a moment to process in his mind, but Qrow lets out a soft chuckle, bringing his hand up to James’ neck and pulls him in for a kiss. He’s not focused on the tattoos on his body anymore. He’s not focused on the memories, good and bad, they left in his mind. Nor is he thinking about the tattoos and engravings across James’ own body.

In this moment, he’s not thinking about the marks from God. He is only thinking of this moment here in time. A moment where his heart, a heart that has been used, abused, beaten, and has loved far too much has found one that hasn’t gone through quite as much as his has, but has still felt emotion nevertheless.

James was right. Only hearts can build a home, and his was right here.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


End file.
